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Health Indicator Reports

Click the blue bars below for more information about Indicator Reports or choose a report index from the Indicator Reports menu above to get started.

What are health indicators?

Health indicators are summary measures that assess particular aspects of a population's health.

What are Indicator Reports?

NJSHAD Indicator Reports are brief online reports that contain graphs, maps, data tables, and contextual information for a specific public health issue, such as why it's important, what the current status is, and what is being done to improve it. Each Indicator Report has a graph (or several graphs) to give a picture of the data. Text is also provided to answer the most commonly asked questions about the specific topic addressed.

Choose "Indicator Reports" in the top menu. There you will see multiple ways to find a specific report:
Indicator Reports are also listed on the right side of corresponding Health Topic pages.

  • Data Views: Each NJSHAD Indicator Report contains at least one data view, a Summary Report, and a Complete Report. Use this drop down to select which one you want to see. Click the corresponding blue bars below for more information about what is in each one.
  • More Information:
    • Important Facts: Contextual information about the indicator such as how it's measured, why it's important, what its current status is, and what is being done to improve it.
    • Available Services: Services related to this health indicator that are available to the public.
  • Related Indicator Reports: Other NJSHAD Indicator Reports that may be of interest in relation to this Indicator Report. Choosing from the drop down will bring you to an entirely different report and you will land on that report's Summary page.
  • Associated Health Topics: Choosing from the drop down will bring you to that NJSHAD Health Topic page.

  • A map (if the view is by county), a graph, and a data table corresponding to the selected Data View
  • Why the indicator should be tracked
  • Detailed definition of the measure
  • Data Notes*
  • Data Source(s)
  • How the Measure is Calculated (numerator and denominator)
  • Related Health Objectives, Indicators, and Topic Pages*

* Not needed/available in every Indicator Report.

  • Graphs (and/or maps) for all data views in the Indicator Report
  • Why the indicator should be tracked
  • Detailed definition of the measure
  • Data Source(s)
  • How the Measure is Calculated (numerator and denominator)
  • How Are We Doing?*
  • How Do We Compare With the U.S.?*
  • What Is Being Done?*
  • Evidence-based Practices*
  • Available Services*
  • More Resources*
  • Health Program Information*
  • Footnote References*

* Not available in every Indicator Report.

Complete Reports contain everything that's in the separate Data Views and the Summary Report.

  • Definition and Why is this Important?
    • Why this indicator should be tracked.
    • Detailed definition of the measure
  • Current Outlook*
    • How Are We Doing?
    • How Do We Compare With the U.S.?
  • Health Improvement Resources*
    • What Is Being Done?
    • Evidence-based Practices
    • Available Services
    • More Resources
    • Health Program Information
  • For each data view:
    • Map (if county is the stratification variable)
    • Graph
    • Data Table
    • Data Notes*
    • Data Source(s)
    • How the Measure is Calculated (numerator and denominator)
  • Related Health Objectives and Indicators*
    • Objectives or indicators from related health initiatives or indicator sets, such as Healthy People.
  • Related Content* (These link to other NJSHAD pages with related information and statistics.)
    • Related Health Topics Pages
    • Related Relevant Population Characteristics Indicators
    • Related Health Care System Factors Indicators
    • Related Risk Factors Indicators
    • Related Health Status Outcomes Indicators
  • References and Resources*
    • Bibliographic References
  • Data Issues*
    • Data interpretation issues related to the Indicator Report's data source.

* Not available/needed/relevant in every Indicator Report.

  • Births and Infant Health: Key indicators of maternal and infant health.
    • Links to additional birth and infant health data are available on the Births, Infants, and Maternal Health Topic page.
    • Note: Some neighboring states do not report all birth certificate items to NJDOH for residents who gave birth in their state, thereby creating a high proportion of records with unknown values for those items. In particular, Hudson and Passaic have high proportions (>5%) of records with unknown prenatal care onset. This artificially lowers their First Trimester Prenatal Care percentages.
  • Chronic Disease Indicators: Key surveillance indicators of chronic diseases and their risk factors.
  • Demographics and Social Determinants of Health: Characteristics that often determine the health of a population.
  • Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT): Indicators of environmental hazards, human exposures, and public health outcomes.
    • The New Jersey Department of Health and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection collect data on health, human exposures, and environmental hazards.
    • The New Jersey EPHT Network brings this information together and is part of the National EPHT Network.
  • Healthy New Jersey 2020: Health objectives that were to be achieved by 2020.
    • Healthy New Jersey (HNJ) is an initiative focused on identifying and addressing New Jersey residents' priority health needs.
    • HNJ2020 was modeled after the federal Healthy People 2020 initiative and its data component was comprised of measurable objectives for the 2010-2020 decade.
  • Injury and Violence: Key surveillance indicators for injury prevention and control.
  • Leading Causes of Death: Top ten causes of death in the most recent data year.
    • The leading causes of death in this list are the top ten for New Jersey as a whole.
    • The top ten for a particular community may vary.
    • Links to data for other causes of death are available on the Mortality and Leading Causes of Death Health Topic page.

NJSHAD Basics for Beginners contains tips and tricks to get the most out of graphs, maps, and data tables.

Custom Dataset Queries provide more detail for those datasets included in the system. Alternatively, the office responsible for the data may be contacted directly using the information available in the footer at the bottom of the Indicator Report page.

Use and reproduction of the information published on this website is encouraged and may be done without permission. Please refer to the NJSHAD Citation page for suggested citation styles.